‘Weird’… Phil Hay shares what Leeds really thought of Jack Clarke when they sold him

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Leeds United have had to sell some of their top academy products in recent years.

The likes of Lewis Cook, Ronaldo Vieira and heading even further back, Fabian Delph all had to be sold before fully blossoming at Elland Road, and, on occasion, Leeds have had to live to regret those decisions.

One of Leeds’ brightest academy products in recent years has been Jack Clarke, but he left the Whites after just one season in the first-team.

Speaking on The Square Ball Podcast, Phil Hay has been discussing Clarke and his departure from Leeds, and he says that the club were more than happy to sell the winger when Spurs came in, stating that they were delighted with the fee because they weren’t fully sure he was going to kick on.

Leeds were happy to sell Clarke

Hay shared what he knows about the winger.

“You know what is weird about Jack Clarke though, when he was sold Leeds were delighted with the fee, not because they didn’t rate him, but they weren’t sure he was going to train on, and they didn’t think he was, at that stage, worth that, but if you sold him now you’d easily make a profit on that £9.4m,” Hay said.

Kicked on

Well, it’s fair to say that Leeds were wrong about this one.

Of course, the Whites did look vindicated as Clarke faltered at Tottenham, but now, he’s arguably the best winger in the Championship at Sunderland, and he’ll surely be playing Premier League football next season one way or another.

Clarke has improved massively over the past two years, and it’s fair to say that Leeds got it wrong in terms of judging this young man’s potential and his potential value in years to come.

Clarke is certainly worth more than the fee Leeds sold Clarke to Tottenham for now.